However brilliant and dazzling the Twelve Young Masters might be, before Yun Huang they still had to yield a bowshot's distance!
At his words, the corner of Yun Huang's lips curved almost imperceptibly, then drew back in. He walked up before Yun Qing, his gaze falling on the blood-stained black robe.
"Your cultivation still wants diligence." He gave his bland verdict, with the natural condescension of the strong.
Yun Qing smiled wryly, unable to keep from grumbling inwardly: it wasn't that he lacked diligence — it was that meeting a monster at daybreak was of a piece with meeting a ghost after dark...
"Mm?" The golden eyes narrowed faintly, a dangerous look sweeping over, as though sensing Yun Qing was grumbling about him.
His words took a turn, driving straight to the root, his voice carrying the mystic tone of the Great Dao: "Your annihilation pursues the ending too far, and loses the true meaning of chaos. Chaos is the beginning of all things, and the end of all things too. It begins in nothing, and returns to nothing. The turning of birth and death between, the shifting of creation — that is the Great Dao. Your spear has only the dead stillness of 'returning to nothing,' but lacks the vitality of 'beginning in nothing' and the evolution of 'the turning of birth and death.'"
These words crashed through Yun Qing's mind like a great bell tolling. He had always fixed on the ending-intent of annihilation, and had never once thought deeply about the relation of annihilation to chaos, to the cycle of birth and death. The Chaos Dao Embryo... so it was meant to be used this way?!
He looked at Yun Huang's golden eyes that saw through all things, shaken beyond words. Was this the vision of a reincarnated Immortal Emperor? A single glance had seen clean through the delusion barring his path!
"Qing will bear the Young Lord's teaching in mind." Yun Qing pressed down his surging blood and the bloody sweetness at his throat, and answered respectfully. There was no dejection in his heart; rather, Yun Huang's Dao-piercing appraisal set his heart surging, and countless inspirations and clarities came crowding in. 'Born into the same age as this monster who overawes a whole generation — who in his right mind would go out of his way to butt heads with him? To win even a few words of his guidance is already a vast stroke of fortune...'
Yun Huang looked at this obedient, biddable, thoughtful figure of his, and — breaking utterly with habit — stepped a few paces closer and reached out to steady him with a light touch. "Go back and regulate your breathing." He paused, then added, "As for your brother's business at the shrine today — settle it at your own discretion."
The meaning was that Yun Huang would no longer pursue it. Yun Qing had full charge of the matter; whoever was punished, whoever dealt with in the end, Yun Huang would not ask.
"Yes. My thanks to the Young Lord." Yun Qing smiled and raised his head to assent — and suddenly caught hold of the hand Yun Huang had extended to steady him, borrowing its support to stand firm.
Yun Huang was startled, a flicker of helpless annoyance crossing his heart. How did this man climb the pole the moment it was offered — give him a step and down he came!
Gripping Yun Huang's hand, Yun Qing felt only that it was steady and strong, and through the instant of contact a strand of pure, gentle blazing-sun spirit-power passed into his body, swiftly smoothing over some of the restless, roiling wounds in his meridians.
This subtle gesture of Yun Huang's was worlds apart from the cold, overbearing manner of the spar just now.
Yun Huang said no more, turned, and walked out of the training ground with his hands clasped behind him, his robe stirring in the wind, his retreating figure aloof and proud. "You may have a day's leave tomorrow."
Yun Qing stood where he was, watching that receding figure, feeling the wounds within him quietly soothed, the light in his Double Pupils complex.
This "Brother Huang" of his was even more unfathomable than he had imagined — and a little... warmer, too.
Yun Qing pressed down the blood roiling within him, quickly set his appearance to rights so that nothing showed outwardly, and only then left the training ground and headed straight for the Discipline Hall. He still had to go collect Shuo'er and the others.
The Discipline Hall's air was solemn, cold green light glinting off the stone steps. Yun Qing climbed them in his black battle-garb, the blood on his lapel already cleaned away — but perhaps because he had just finished sparring with Yun Huang, a keen, cutting aura still clung to him, making the disciples on watch instinctively hold their breath and lower their heads.
"Eldest Young Master!" Seeing him arrive, the elder on watch at once came briskly to meet him, respectful in manner with a trace of scarcely hidden nervousness. The pressure this one now gave off was no less than that of several elders of deep, accumulated authority.
"The situation." Yun Qing was terse, stepping into the hall and seating himself in the place of honor, his Double Pupils sweeping over the man.
The elder dared not be remiss and presented a jade slip with both hands: "As for the shrine matter, the children involved and their attendants have all been detained for now, awaiting judgment. This is the preliminary testimony and the record of the scene."
Yun Qing took it, his spiritual sense sweeping swiftly over the information within. Yun Hao had provoked first, spouting off at the shrine gate that a mere baseborn was unfit to enter the shrine; Yun Shuo, unable to bear it, had retorted, and the two sides had come to blows. In the shoving, several intertwined strands of spiritual power had actually reacted, producing a tide of spirit-power that slammed into the nearby Soul-Suppressing Stele, and so the stele's body had cracked.
The cause of the conflict was trivial, the course of it seemingly an accident sparked by trueborn-baseborn prejudice. But of all things, what cracked was the Soul-Suppressing Stele — a sensitive object touching Yun Huang's secret! Yun Qing did not believe such a coincidence existed in this world. Taken together with the sinister spiritual power lingering on the stele, this matter surely had someone pushing from the shadows!
And of the Yun Clan's upper ranks who knew the Soul-Suppressing Stele bore on the secret of Yun Huang's rebirth, there were but a handful — and the Twelve Elders were precisely among them.
Yun Hao happened to be the Fifth Elder's grandson.
Yun Qing's thoughts turned like lightning. Was the Fifth Elder behind it? Yet Fifth Elder Yun Jun had long borne the name of an "affable old fellow" in the clan — mild in temper, disliking strife. It was said he had climbed to the Fifth Elder's seat more on a measure of luck and seniority than anything. And the proud daughter of the Fifth Elder's line, Yun Ruyi, bore the "Innate Blessed-Fortune Body," most skilled at drawing toward the auspicious and away from the ill.
Would two such people indulge their kin in so reckless a move, only to bring Yun Qing down? It did not fit the survival-way the Fifth Elder's line had always kept, and it ran counter to those two words, "blessed fortune." It was too obvious — more like a front someone had pushed forward.
Yun Qing gave no sign of it and ordered: "Where are Yun Shuo and the others? Take me to them."
"Yes, Eldest Young Master."
In the side hall, the light was somewhat dim. Yun Shuo sat curled on a rush mat in the corner, his small face still a little pale; beside him were an equally tense Yun Yao and a gloomy, indignant Yun Li.
Yun Qing's gaze swept over them; seeing Yun Shuo unharmed, his heart eased a little.
Yun Shuo, in the corner, saw Yun Qing enter and his eyes blazed up all at once. He called out with dependence and grievance, "Big Brother!" Yun Yao, too, cried happily, "Brother Yun Qing!"
Yun Li instinctively straightened his spine, his eyes complicated as he looked toward Yun Qing.
Yun Qing looked at Yun Li and Yun Yao and gave a slight nod, his tone gentle: "You two, my thanks for shielding my little brother today. I hear you often look out for him. As his elder brother, Yun Qing thanks you here."
At these words, the cold remark already at Yun Li's lips was blocked back in an instant, a flicker of surprise and awkwardness crossing his face. Yun Yao was so flattered she hastily waved her hands: "The Eldest Young Master speaks too heavily. Kin of the same clan — supporting one another is only right."
"I already know how the matter went. Go back and rest well for now. This — I will handle." Yun Qing's tone was mild, carrying a decision that brooked no doubt.
With that one word from him, Yun Shuo and Yun Yao felt as though they had swallowed a heart-settling pill and hurriedly nodded. Yun Li gave Yun Qing a long, deep look, and in the end said nothing more, following the others out.
Once the three had gone, the calm on Yun Qing's face froze over in an instant, secret light flashing in his Double Pupils. He said to the elder on watch: "Have Steward Jia — the one who went to Qiwu Hall to report today — come see me at once."